Manisa Province

A 2,700-year-old necklace, recovered from the Bintepeler archaeological site in Manisa and smuggled from Türkiye to the United States, has been returned.

The ancient artifact considered a significant piece of Lydian art had been illegally taken decades ago and held in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in Massachusetts.

The floor mosaics of a nearly 2,000-year-old structure — regarded as the largest synagogue from the ancient period and located in Sardis, the ancient capital of Lydia, the first civilization to mint coins — are currently being restored to their original condition by women from a rural neighborhood in the region.

Skeletal remains of two soldiers and weapons uncovered during excavations in Sardis, an ancient Lydian city in the western province of Manisa, shed light on a dramatic sixth-century battle that paved the way for a Persian invasion.

Village women take part in the renovation works of the largest synagogue of the ancient world, located in the ancient city of Sardis, the capital of the Lydian Kingdom, known as the place where money was first printed.

The ancient city of Sardis has been on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List since 2013.

A father and son team has been keeping a watch against treasure hunters in the western province of Manisa's ancient city of Aigai.

Ahmet Altanay, 78, who retired after serving as a watchman for 28 years in the ancient city of Aigai, is still guarding the ancient city against illegal excavations with his son, Yusuf Altanay, who is 53.

The floor mosaics in the largest synagogue of the ancient era, one of the most important world cultural heritage sites located in the ancient city of Sardis in the Salihli district of the western province of Manisa, have begun to be restored, The damaged parts of the 1,700-year-old mosaics, most of which are preserved, began to reshape with the fine workmanship of the women in the village.

With the support of the German Archaeological Institute, international documentation work has been initiated in the agora building of the ancient city of Aigai, which dates back 2,700 years in the western province of Manisa.

Lake Marmara, a major bird sanctuary in the western province of Manisa, has dried up due to drought, causing families to fight over land conflict.

While one person lost his life and two people were injured in four separate land fights on the lake, three of the eight people detained were arrested.

The discovery of thousands of artifacts and ancient roads during the excavations in the ancient city of Aigai, one of the 12 Aeolian cities in the western province of Manisa, the history of which dates back to the eighth century B.C., is drawing the attention of visitors.

A group of fishermen in the Aegean province of Manisa has reacted strongly to local authorities on being asked to pay an occupancy fee of 391,000 Turkish Liras ($28,670) for using the Marmara Lake, which dried up three years ago.

"They are asking a fee for fish that don't exist anymore," Rafet Keser, one of the fishermen in the region, told daily Milliyet on Feb. 16.